A legal or shari’a injunction that relates to the actions of individuals. Hukm (also spelled hukum), plural: ahkam, is usually classified into different categories on the basis that human actions are perceived as causes for reward (ajr or thawab) or punishment (iqab) in proportion to the significance of such actions. These categories range from permitting to forbidding an action or leaving it to the discretion of an individual.

The shari’a classifies all human acts into one of five categories in terms of their hukm:

• Obligatory or dutiful (wajib/ fardh): an action or duty that an individual is responsible or obligated to perform. In other words, it is a divine injunction that prescribes what an individual is expected to do or refrain from doing.
• Recommended or preferable (mustahabb/ mandub): all what a legislator requests but without compulsion or imposition. Whoever adheres to mandub would be entitled to praise, but anyone who does not observe it would incur no blame or punishment.
• Permissible (mubah): it includes all that is allowed by shari’a, while giving individuals the option to do it or ignore it. Most actions that are essential to human life fall into this category based on the shari’a maxim that “everything is allowed unless there is an textual evidence that prohibits it”.
• Forbidden (haram/ muharram): it includes all prohibited doings or acts such as the payment and receipt of riba.
• Reprehensible/ abominable (makruh): it is a minor degree of the forbidden. By definition, makruh refers to all actions that a legislator demanded that an individual refrain from, and if not, he would incur no repercussions. However, heeding this prescription will lead to the individual being rewarded.